99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life

Journalist Chandler (Drive-Thru Dreams) presents a book that shows the enduring impact of American colonists’ belief that toil would put them among God’s chosen. The author asserts that today, people working in the United States clock longer hours, take fewer vacations, move for job opportunities, and retire later than people living in other developed nations. Extended work hours still confer status and importance in the U.S., including among the wealthy. Even celebrities keep busy with side hustles. This book contrasts U.S. workers, often living to work above a social safety net, to French workers who are “working to live” instead of living to work, supported by subsidized daycare, paid time off, paid parental leave, and pensions at age 62. The book indicates that the French work fewer hours, get more sleep, and live longer. Chandler travels to various U.S. towns to hear from small business owners, immigrants, and nonprofit leaders about their working lives, with particular focus on the years surrounding the COVID pandemic. At the height of the pandemic in 2020, distribution of government aid was comprehensive, transcending the customary suspicion of the poor and unemployed. The aid also set a hopeful precedent that caregiving could count as well-paid labor. In recent years, most of the aid programs have expired; however, Chandler notes some regional pilot programs that are trying similar universal basic income schemes.